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Adam Pease

Commentary: Syrian WMDs Don\'t Justify Intervention | The National Interest - 0 views

nationalinterest.org/...dont-justify-intervention-7280

Syria WMD Foreign Policy Middle East Intervention Rogue States COIN

shared by Adam Pease on 29 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Adam Pease on 29 Aug 12
     
    Syria possesses chemical weapons. This unsurprising news has generated professions of shock and horror from world leaders. But the existence of Syria's deadly arsenal is another good reason for the United States to stay out of that nation's worsening civil war. The ongoing fighting has excited the usual demands for U.S.
  • Kiran Melnyk on 29 Aug 12
     
    this raises interesting questions and parallels to the conflict in iraq
  • Kay Bradley on 03 Sep 12
     
    How significant is Israel in this conversation?
Stuart Suplick

Striking Syria: Mixed messages | The Economist - 2 views

www.economist.com/...striking-syria

syria syrian-people rebels regime economist

shared by Stuart Suplick on 05 Sep 13 - No Cached
    • Stuart Suplick
      Stuart Suplick on 05 Sep 13
       
      Interesting how the division may also be socio-economic: the wealthy in non-rebel held areas may not like Assad, but don't want to "take one for the team" (or perhaps they just want to avoid becoming collateral damage). Other Syrians (more middle class(?)) in rebel-held areas are more sympathetic to the rebel cause.
    • Stuart Suplick
      Stuart Suplick on 05 Sep 13
       
      Have news agencies been focusing too much on America's indecisiveness, and what it means for its PR? Shouldn't they focus more on how a strike can or will be a turning point, for better or worse, in the Syrian Civil War? Wouldn't such a discussion better help the general public and government officials make more informed and holistic decisions? Wouldn't it be ideal to have a greater emphasis on such a discussion by the help of the news agencies?
    • Stuart Suplick
      Stuart Suplick on 05 Sep 13
       
      The U.S. is indeed the "global cop" when the UN is powerless (in Syria's case, virtually powerless b/c of Russia's veto power). For every dollar spent on global defense/security by the world's countries, 42 cents of it was spent by the U.S. (NPR).
    • Stuart Suplick
      Stuart Suplick on 05 Sep 13
       
      Heard it this morning, can't recall what year.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • many criticise America for not asking them which targets to hit
  • Some wealthy Damascenes say that though they are keen to see the back of Mr Assad, they would rather America not strike because they fear the potential consequences. Syrians living in rebel-held areas, who have less to lose, seem more supportive of intervention.
  • many are annoyed that the conversation about strikes revolves around America’s credibility and deterring other regimes, rather than putting an end to Syria’s war or Mr Assad’s rule.
  • Some Arab states, like Saudi Arabia, urge action in private, but keep quiet publicly, lest they be seen to be seeking Western help
  • One thing many Syrians do agree on, however, is their contempt for Mr Obama's indecisiveness: "Obama, you ass, are you going to hit us or not?" asks a young Damascene on Facebook.
  • Stuart Suplick on 05 Sep 13
  • olivialucas on 13 Sep 13
     
    I find it very interesting that the Damascenes' opinions on U.S. intervention seem to differ based on socio-economic status, but yet the majority of them all agree that Obama should be more decisive about his plans for or against invasion. In general, this article surfaces a lot of interesting points to ponder surrounding the conflict in Syria.
  • kian vafai on 13 Sep 13
     
    The article makes a very important point. U.S. engagement is not aimed at overthrowing Assad and establishing a new political government or regime, rather American involvement is serving as a deterrent for the prevention of chemical weapon usage by other countries. Such reasoning undercuts the moral virtue of American involvement in Syria and will serve to fuel greater anti-American sentiments in the region.
olivialum

Mental Health Care in West Africa Is Often a Product of Luck - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...s-often-a-product-of-luck.html

shared by olivialum on 12 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • A growing number of innovative groups have begun experimenting with a similar approach in Africa and Asia: providing therapy without clinics or doctors, relying instead on mobile nurses, cheap generic drugs and community support systems.
  • In impoverished parts of the world where psychiatry is virtually nonexistent, they say, it is the only way to begin reaching the millions of people in need.
  • “Here, if we had to wait for a psychiatrist, the people who desperately need treatment would never get it,”
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • slash rates of premature death from mental disorders by a third by 2030.
  • By one analysis, which includes Western countries and developing regions like West Africa, depression, drug abuse and schizophrenia are on track to be the three leading causes of lost economic output by 2030.
  • Among the successes have been group therapy for rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo, family and individual counseling for survivors of torture in Myanmar, and talk therapy and medication for people with depression in rural India.
  • But without reliable support, follow-up and medical supplies — particularly psychiatric drugs when needed — interventions can quickly lose traction, no matter how well trained and devoted the workers are.
  • One moment, she was dozing off during a rest period; the next, she felt the presence of strange men coming after her. She screamed at them to stop. “My shouting didn’t stop the men; they kept coming for me,” she said. “So, what did I do? I ripped off my school uniform and ran.”
  • The medical staff had little training in how to handle a psychotic break: the hallucinations and delusions characteristic of schizophrenia. They sent her home, where the sensation of being hunted seeped back into her thoughts.
  • Sometimes, she ran out onto the open savanna to escape the demons pursuing her.
  • Family members took turns keeping watch and exhausted traditional methods of healing. Precious animals were sacrificed to drive away the spirits disturbing her. Healers administered herbal powders, and one applied a pale dye to her face and body in an effort to purge demons.
  • Mental illness is a source of shame here, as in most of the world, and families do not advertise its presence. Yet each community has a chief or subchief responsible for keeping an eye out for the sick.
  • One is known as task sharing.
  • The second is community self-help.
  • The third is raising awareness
  • The evidence that a combination of these services can lead to lasting improvement for people with severe mental illnesses is thin, but a foundation is being laid.
  • “The key thing is that it’s not simply home-based care for people with schizophrenia,” Laura Asher, who is running the study, said by email. “It also involves awareness raising and community mobilization.”
  • the cost of these programs is minute compared with the cost of standard psychiatry
  • $8 per client per month on average, according to Peter Yaro, its executive director. In the United States, it costs $200 to $700 for a single appointment with a psychiatrist, depending on the provider, the type of care and the location.
  • In global cost-benefit terms, economists typically rate health care programs by the amount of disability they reduce per dollar. Historically, mental health interventions have scored poorly compared with efforts that save young lives, like neonatal care or treatment of diarrhea. A new analysis of mental health strategies in Ethiopia, for instance, found that treating schizophrenia with generic medications was about as cost-effective as treating heart disease with a combination of drugs, like aspirin and a statin — and much less cost-effective than treating depression or epilepsy. The findings, though preliminary, suggest that treating psychosis is relatively costly.
  • the studies do not take into account the effect of chronic psychosis on an entire family. “The person with psychosis becomes a full-time job for someone else in the family, and depending on how aggressive the person is, maybe more than one person,” said Dr. Simliwa Kolou Valentin Dassa, a psychiatrist in neighboring Togo
  • And if the disorder is seen as a result of a curse on the family, carried down through generations — a common interpretation here — the entire clan comes under suspicion.
Heather Anderson

EU: A Key Intervention in Roma Expulsions - 0 views

www.hrw.org/...y-intervention-roma-expulsions

EU

shared by Heather Anderson on 18 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • Heather Anderson on 18 Oct 10
     
    France is out of line on several different measures here: their laws include the right to equal housing, they may be violating EU freedom of movement laws, the ignored a European Parliamentary decision to suspend Roma deportation. In addition to not following laws, France also appears to be majorly discriminating against the Roma people: the legislature that cracked down on illegal camps ordered "systematic action to dismantle illegal camps, priority given to those of Roma", and there has been campaigning directly associating them with crime. Furthermore, "France denies that it has any minority populations and is the only EU member state that has not signed the Council of Europe's convention on the rights of minorities."....Wow.
snow2020

Could Hong Kong's economy survive army intervention by Beijing? - 5 views

Its interesting that the conflict could actually be detrimental to Hong Kong. That the protests could cause issues for the economy through foreign trade/policy and erosion of the Hong Kong independ...

started by marcusk2021 on 08 Sep 19 2 follow-ups, last by snow2020 on 10 Sep 19
Kay Bradley

Police Reform Is Necessary. But How Do We Do It? - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...police-reform.html

shared by Kay Bradley on 27 Aug 20 - No Cached
  • The United States spends more on public safety than almost all its peer countries and much less, relatively speaking, on social services
  • Now we’re having a conversation that’s not just about how black communities are policed, and what reforms are required, but also about why we’ve invested exclusively in a criminalization model for public safety, instead of investing in housing, jobs, health care, education for black communities and fighting structural inequality.
  • Budgets are moral documents, reflecting priorities and values.
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • Garza: In 2018 and 2019, my organization, Black Futures Lab, did what we believe is the largest survey of black communities in America. It’s called the Black Census Project. We asked more than 30,000 black people across America what we experience, what we want to see happen instead and what we long for, for our futures.
  • the No.1 issue facing them, and keeping them up at night, is that their wages are too low to support a family.
  • Imagine that you have a tool chest for solving social problems. It gives you options. Then you lose the tool of mental-health resources. You lose the tool of public education. They take out the tool of job placement. And then all you’ve got left is this one rusty hammer. That’s policing.
  • Simply defunding the police cannot be a legacy of this moment. I want to hear about investing in black communities more than I want to hear about defunding.
  • There has been such a massive disinvestment in the social safety net that should exist to give black communities an opportunity to thrive, whether it’s access to health care or housing or education or jobs.
  • They cause others to be armed, out of fear, who shouldn’t have to worry about defending themselves
  • The dispatcher would route calls that aren’t about crimes or a risk of harm to social workers, mediators and others.
  • In many cities, the police spend a lot of time “on traffic and motor-vehicle issues, on false burglar alarms, on noise complaints and on problems with animals,”
  • When a police report leads to criminal charges — only a subset of the whole — about 80 percent of them are for misdemeanors. Friedman argues that we should hand off some of what the police do to people who are better trained for it.
  • A tiny percentage of people are the ones destabilizing communities
  • There are a host of things that the police are currently responding to that they have no business responding to.
  • If you have a car accident, why is somebody with a gun coming to the scene?
  • Or answering a complaint about someone like George Floyd, who the store clerk said bought a pack of cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill?
  • Similarly, if you have a homeless man panhandling at a red light and you say to a cop, “Go fix it,” he’ll arrest the man. And now he has a $250 ticket. And how does he pay that? And what does any of this accomplish?
  • domestic disputes. They’re the subject of 15 to more than 50 percent of calls to the police
  • But might we get further in the long run if someone with other skills — in social work or mediation — actually handled the incident?
  • The women were deeply wary of the police in general, but 33 of them had called them at least once, often for help with a teenager. “Calling the police on family members deepens the reach of penal control,” Bell wrote. But the mothers in her study have scant options.
  • hey knew that if they called the police that real harm could come, and they didn’t want that.
  • When I did investigations for the Justice Department, I would hear police officers say: “I didn’t sign up to the police force to be a social worker. I don’t have that training.” They know they’re stuck handling things because there is a complete lack of investment in other approaches and responses.
  • In Eugene, Ore., some 911 calls are routed to a crisis-intervention service called Cahoots, which responds to things like homelessness, substance abuse and mental illness. Houston routes some mental-health calls to a counselor if they’re not emergencies. New Orleans is hiring people who are not police officers to go to traffic collisions and write reports, as long as there are no injuries or concerns about drunken driving. I’m borrowing these examples from Barry Friedman’s article. The point is that some cities are beginning to reduce the traditional scope of police work.
  • One of the most interesting studies about policing is a randomized comparison of different strategies for dealing with areas of Lowell, Mass., that were hot spots for crime. One was aggressive patrols, which included stop-and-frisk encounters and arrests on misdemeanor charges, like drug possession. A second was social-service interventions, like mental-health help or taking homeless people to shelters. A third involved physical upkeep: knocking down vacant buildings, cleaning vacant lots, putting in streetlights and video cameras. The most effective in reducing crime was the third strategy.
Kay Bradley

History of U.S. Interventions in Latin America; Review - IWN - 0 views

english.iswnews.com/...ntions-in-latin-america-review

shared by Kay Bradley on 29 Oct 21 - No Cached
  • Cost
  • In this year (just as an example), U.S. investments in Latin America earn $1.3 billion; while new investments total $302 million.
  • U.S.-supported military coup kills Allende and brings Augusto Pinochet Ugarte to power.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • terminates civil liberties, abolishes unions, extends the work week to 48 hours, and reverses Allende’s land reforms.
  • Carter cuts off aid to the Guatemalan military (or tries to; some slips through) and reduces aid to El Salvador.
  • Kay Bradley on 29 Oct 21
     
    "Cost"
lauran5556555

'It's shocking': Haiti struggles to piece together story of president's murder | Haiti ... - 1 views

www.theguardian.com/...president-murder-jovenel-moise

shared by lauran5556555 on 02 Nov 21 - No Cached
  • lauran5556555 on 02 Nov 21
     
    The ex-president Jovenel Moïse was a democratically elected president with minority support. A group of 26 Colombians ex-soldiers were accused of his murder by disguising as US Drug Enforcement Administration agents. Some suspected that Haitian national Christian Emmanuel Sanon. Haitian people were worried that there would be a new round of civil unrest, but they were also against foreign intervention because history showed that these interventions often caused more harm.
olivialucas

A Diplomatic Proposal for Syria - NYTimes.com - 3 views

www.nytimes.com/...omatic-proposal-for-syria.html

syria nytimes

shared by olivialucas on 10 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • olivialucas on 13 Sep 13
     
    This article is about John Kerry's diplomatic proposal to Syria to give up its chemical weapons in order to avoid US intervention. Russia, a close ally of Assad's regime, has supported Kerry's proposal and is discouraging Syria from using chemical weapons, if it will deter an American strike on Syria.
  • racheladams23 on 13 Sep 13
     
    This is an important development, especially in the light of Putin's letter. Hopefully all of the countries will cooperate to make this non-violent solution a reality.
kylerussell

Enacting Cap-and-Trade Will Present Challenges Under China's System - 8 views

www.nytimes.com/...nping-limit-cap-and-trade.html

shared by kylerussell on 26 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • kylerussell on 26 Sep 15
     
    BEIJING - White House officials have lauded President Xi Jinping's anticipated promise of a national market for China in greenhouse gas quotas as a breakthrough in environmental cooperation and reform. But to work well, Mr. Xi's plan, expected to be announced in Washington on Friday, will demand big changes from a government accustomed to heavy-handed intervention and skewed statistics.
  • ...2 more comments...
  • olivialum on 29 Sep 15
     
    I liked this article for 2 reasons. 1) It would be environmentally beneficial for China to enact some type of cap and trade program because it is no secret that China is heavily polluted, which can be seen in the pictures. 2) It acknowledged the fact that even though a cap and trade system would not be economically beneficial for China, it would be the eco-friendly choice. "It can work perfectly if we have all the pieces of the puzzle ready, but if we don't have the rest of them, this one alone will not generate much benefit. There are also risks if we don't manage this well. The collapse of the carbon price may actually shut down the market." Even though the system is high risk, it is high reward with regards to the environment.
  • samoshay on 29 Sep 15
     
    Cap and trade is a brilliant idea (I think). It creates scarcity (and rightfully so). I think it will be a driver for other countries to join the cap-and-trade revolution; as the article says, "The world's second-largest economy puts in place a price on carbon emissions, and this will be noted the world over." The only difficult part is with the measurement and verification aspect, of which Chinese businesses are known in particular in world markets to cut corners on occasion. As the world's largest polluter, and specifically the world's largest coal burner, China's continued free pollution policies do have global effects, and it is hard to force a nation to compensate for burdens bore by others.
  • alisimons on 29 Sep 15
     
    I really like the cap and trade idea because it ensures that the every firm is paying the maximum amount each is willing to spend to pollute the air. Firms that don't value being able to pollute as much can sell their permits and use the money to become more environmentally friendly. The cap and trade method encourages technological change that reduces the harm from each unit of a firm's product. As the article says, "The intended result is a competitive market that induces companies to devise ways to reduce emissions." The cap and trade method will hopefully relieve China of some of its pollution.
  • Kako Ito on 29 Sep 15
     
    The national environmental quota set by the cap and trade announced by President Xi shows that there is some possibility of environmental cooperation from China, one of the world's most heavy polluters. The article voices the well founded skepticism of critics, who doubt that this new system will work well when it hasn't exactly taken off among the nations of the European Union; however, China's state is very different from its western counterparts. Comparatively, it can exact more control over its countries' businesses and factories, so this system just may be successful.
Catherine Binder

Say hi to the Crazy - 3 views

www.sfgate.com/...article.cgi

shared by Catherine Binder on 04 Oct 10 - No Cached
Kay Bradley liked it
  • Catherine Binder on 04 Oct 10
     
    This article is a few weeks old, but the writer brings up interesting points about Islam, the NY mosque debate, and the United States' international relations. His mention of Hiroshima's Peace Park in comparison to the US' plans for Ground Zero is intriguing. Heather's article about the syphilis experiment in Guatemala is just one recent example of why the US is perceived as domineering. I never thought to question our plans for the former site of the World Trade Center, but I completely agree with the writer - why are we building a gaudy shiny tower instead of something more inviting that could facilitate discussions between countries? He states that "It would be nice if our ground zero could become an international home of reconciliation. Instead of continuing the hatred, defuse it."
  • ...2 more comments...
  • anonymous on 04 Oct 10
     
    I like how Jon talks about "the Crazy." I sometimes get caught up in trying to figure out how and why some people have seemingly immoral opinions about things. I first have to remind myself that I'm not always right myself, and if after that I think the issue really is a simple difference between right and wrong, I try to think of the reasons as to why people would think differently from me. It's one thing to think that all of those people are just stupid, all of them have to be evil to think such a thing, all of them don't know what they're talking about. Truth is, it's a mix. I wish I knew more about the mosque issue to be able to have a solid opinion on whether or not it should be built, but I do think the people on each side of the matter need to stop generalizing about the other. The anti-mosque-ians should recognize that terrorists are part of every religion. The pro-mosque-ians should recognize that some of their opposers know what they're talking about, but a lot of them are just caught up in "the Crazy." Both sides should try to understand the other as to dispel any false notions they have about each other (or themselves) and to try and come to a rational, peaceful decision.
  • Heather Anderson on 04 Oct 10
     
    I never thought of comparing 9/11 to the bombing of Hiroshima. Although what happened on 9/11 was absolutely terrible, the scale of the tragedies is really different: 2,000 vs 100,000, a few crazies vs a nation's decision to use extreme power. I don't want to sound insensitive, but I feel as though 9/11 is sometimes blown out of proportion; there have been worse tragedies in the world, at least statistically speaking. However, the emotional and symbolic significance definitely hit the U.S. hard: so many people killed, so much fear, being attacked so close to home, over different religious beliefs. I get the feeling that the author is comparing 9/11 to Hiroshima partially to appeal to people who view it on that scale. I never thought much about the plans for the new towers, but when I did, I suppose I thought it was good we were picking ourselves up and moving forward. But perhaps we would be moving forward in the wrong direction. I really like the idea of a peace garden or a building dedicated to world peace. I think that would be a very inspired way to address the tensions that caused 9/11. I hope parts of the new building will be dedicated to working for peace. Although I doubt anyone will suddenly change the plans for the tower, I think it is actually quite possible that some parts of the building will serve this purpose.
  • Gregory Freiberg on 04 Oct 10
     
    I agree with Alison. All to often we get caught up in our own opinions which sometimes means that we contend every other opinion is wrong. For example, I think that the mosque should be built near ground zero. I think this because to generalize against a whole religion because of a small part of one of the largest religions in the world seems dumb; however, after thinking about this I do realize that the other side to this argument is valid. Why a mosque? Can't we accomplish something similar in terms of fostering peace by building something else? As heather said, this still could be moving forward in the wrong direction. I do not know. But I am trying to be open about the other side to this very multidimensional issue. It is wrong of us to think it is an ethical issue with two side of right and wrong, there is in fact a lot of grey areas.
  • Rick Rodgers on 04 Oct 10
     
    Hey all, I'd just like to remind everyone that the "mosque" is not being built at ground zero (in fact it's in a Burlington Coat Factory blocks away: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-sledge/just-how-far-is-the-groun_b_660585.html. I think the ethical debate surrounding the issue is just further testament to the fact that many Americans unconsciously subscribe to media hype, regardless of their positions on issues. While I agree with what has been said about the ethics of a hypothetical mosque at ground zero, we should realize that this ethical dilemma is a fallacy and exists only as a headline. Also, I think the we/the press/everyone should be more careful who we label as "crazy irrational terrorists". We should realize that those guys didn't get on the planes on 9/11 because they were born without enough of X hormone, they were there because of a long history of western intervention etc. in their home countries. We shouldn't be so quick to dismiss terrorism as an irrational act by sick people, it only allows us to forget the underlying complicity that we have with the issue.
Kay Bradley

Francis Fukuyama - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 1 views

en.wikipedia.org/...Francis_Fukuyama

clash of civilizations terrorism

shared by Kay Bradley on 11 Sep 11 - Cached
Kay Bradley liked it
  • He is best known for his book The End of History and the Last Man (1992), which argued that the worldwide spread of liberal democracies may signal the end point of humanity's sociocultural evolution and become the final form of human government.
  • also associated with the rise of the neoconservative movement,[2] from which he has since distanced himself.
  • Bachelor of Arts degree in classics from Cornell University, where he studied political philosophy under Allan Bloom.[5][8] He initially pursued graduate studies in comparative literature at Yale University, going to Paris for six months to study under Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida, but became disillusioned and switched to political science at Harvard University.[5
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • He is now Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow and resident in the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.[
  • Fukuyama is best known as the author of The End of History and the Last Man, in which he argued that the progression of human history as a struggle between ideologies is largely at an end, with the world settling on liberal democracy after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Fukuyama predicted the eventual global triumph of political and economic liberalism:[citation needed]
  • As a key Reagan Administration contributor to the formulation of the Reagan Doctrine, Fukuyama is an important figure in the rise of neoconservatism, although his works came out years after Irving Kristol's 1972 book
  • In a New York Times article of February 2006, Fukuyama, in considering the ongoing Iraq War, stated: "What American foreign policy needs is not a return to a narrow and cynical realism, but rather the formulation of a 'realistic Wilsonianism' that better matches means to ends."[14] In regard to neoconservatism he went on to say: "What is needed now are new ideas, neither neoconservative nor realist, for how America is to relate to the rest of the world — ideas that retain the neoconservative belief in the universality of human rights, but without its illusions about the efficacy of American power and hegemony to bring these ends about
  • Fukuyama began to distance himself from the neoconservative agenda of the Bush administration, citing its overly militaristic basis and embrace of unilateral armed intervention, particularly in the Middle East. By late 2003, Fukuyama had voiced his growing opposition to the Iraq War[15] and called for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation as Secretary of Defense.[16]
  • Kay Bradley on 11 Sep 11
     
    Disagrees with Samuel P. Huntington's thesis
taylorw2021

Politicians like to posture about Northern Ireland. But no one really cares about us | ... - 4 views

www.theguardian.com/...nson-joe-biden-nigel-farage-eu

shared by taylorw2021 on 20 Sep 20 - No Cached
  • taylorw2021 on 20 Sep 20
     
    This article is both interesting and unique in that it is an opinion piece written by a resident of Northern Ireland instead of a traditional news article. The author argues that UK politicians omit Northern Ireland from discussions about Brexit, and a potential withdrawal could threaten the peace that the island has managed to keep for the past 20 years. Interestingly, she is also critical of Joe Biden's involvement, saying that his actions anger Unionists, or protestants who support remaining a part of the UK.
  • ethand2021 on 21 Sep 20
     
    It will be interesting to see the United States' involvement in Northern Ireland and the Good Friday agreement as we get closer to and after the election.
  • jalene2021 on 22 Sep 20
     
    As someone who read an article regarding Joe Biden's involvement in the discussion, it was interesting to hear that, despite his positive intentions, from the perspective of someone who would be hurt by a rupture in the Good Friday Agreement, his intervention was actually negative.
taylorw2021

Russia Is Miffed by Cool Reception for Coronavirus Vaccine - The New York Times - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...ussia-coronavirus-vaccine.html

shared by taylorw2021 on 31 Aug 20 - No Cached
  • taylorw2021 on 31 Aug 20
     
    Recently, Russia announced that it had created the first Covid-19 vaccine. They were immediately met with skepticism by many Western countries, as well as from doctors around the world. I find it very interesting that Russia named their vaccine "Sputnik V" after Sputnik 1, the first space satellite; it seems like Russia wants to mirror the Space Race by racing to find a vaccine while other countries focus on trials to ensure a potential vaccine's safety and effectiveness.
  • cooperg2021 on 31 Aug 20
     
    Although it is obvious that this vaccine has not undergone enough testing for researchers to fully understand its efficiency or possible side effects, I find it interesting that western countries were so quick to dismiss it completely. I recently read an article on Dr. Fauci that explained his time as a health official during the AIDS crisis. Because scientists did not know how the virus spread and the majority of its victims were a part of the gay community, researchers refused to go off the strict track of trials usually regulated. In short, thousands and thousands of ill people were rapidly dying yet being told they could not undergo treatment for fear of bad side effects or results. After lots of protest from the LBGTQ community, Fauci, as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, allowed for more experimental drug treatment due to the deadliness of the virus. Today, he is regarded as a hero and a scientific humanist who did the right thing when it was necessary. Yet when Russia follows a similar track, it is regarded as rushed and faked for nice press or some Cold-War feud against the US. Although the death rate was much higher, and subsequently side effects would matter less if the patient would ultimately die without intervention (whereas with Covid, side effects could be catastrophic by worsening large groups of the population who would have otherwise survived), I find it interesting that Americans still harbor so much resentment towards Russia (or at least assume that everything must be a competition). I wonder how this was reported on in other countries.
lauran5556555

Haiti's Troubled Path to Development | Council on Foreign Relations - 1 views

www.cfr.org/...itis-troubled-path-development

shared by lauran5556555 on 02 Nov 21 - No Cached
  • Some fifteen thousand Haitians were killed in rebellions against the U.S. administration, the bloodiest of which occurred in 1919 and 1929. President Franklin D. Roosevelt withdrew U.S. troops in 1934 as part of his Good Neighbor Policy.
  • Widespread deforestation has left the country especially prone to flooding and mudslides, which strike Haiti at twice the rate as the Dominican Republic.
  • lauran5556555 on 02 Nov 21
     
    Haiti is the first black republic, but foreign control and intervention had greatly affected the wellbeing of the state. Furthermore, it had a series of ineffective governments that were not able to resolve the economic problems and natural disasters in the area.
ershai

There Is a New Kidnapping Capital of the World. Here's What We Need to Do About It. - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...haiti-kidnapping-gangs.html

shared by ershai on 02 Nov 21 - No Cached
  • ershai on 02 Nov 21
     
    A guest essay, naming Haiti the "kidnapping capital" of the world, and despite failed past interventions, invites international actors to assist the country in its humanitarian crisis, support Haitian law enforcement to combat the gangs, and prevent gang recruitment in marginalized communities, for example. "Until the Haitian government gets crime under control and brings the gangs to justice, the restoration of the constitutional order and the country's humanitarian and economic recovery will remain elusive."
nicksandford

Indigenous rights take center stage in Chile's new constitution – People's W... - 0 views

peoplesworld.org/...age-in-chiles-new-constitution

shared by nicksandford on 05 Sep 22 - No Cached
  • nicksandford on 05 Sep 22
     
    A referendum in Chile just rejected a draft of a new Constitution pushed by the new Chilean President Gabriel Boric and his extremely progressive coalition that would have replaced Augusto Pinochet's Constitution. The Constitution included the right to public health care, abortion, free speech, clean air and water, it would have given the federal government greater control over the Chilean economy, and would have officially recognized the sovereignty of Indigenous groups across the country, making it the third plurinational nation in South America. However, 61% of Chileans opposed the new Constitution, and a new assembly will have to be elected to redraft it. This rejection is interesting; does it highlight the overall mood in Latin American politics right now? Is this a rejection of liberal policies? What will the next few months have in store for Chile; bureaucratic breakdown, or unity around a new Constitution?
  • Kay Bradley on 06 Sep 22
     
    Really interesting article, Nick! Keep in mind that "liberal" in the international context means low government intervention and capitalism, so the correct way to phrase the question is "Is this a rejection of social democratic policies?" There was a wave of social democracy in Latin America in the 1990s and early 2000s, so I wonder if this is an effort to move that further, an effort which is contested. https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/chile-could-become-plurinational-what-does-that-mean/ As you know, there are many levels of inclusion and exclusion in different societies, and the indigenous rights movement in South America carries a dimension of racism held over from the colonial era, in addition to neocolonialism and extractive capitalism centered on banks and the owners of land.
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